FORT WORTH, Texas — Sarah Farr isn’t taking any chances.
On Friday, the mother showed up to the Bob Bolen vaccination site in Fort Worth and rolled up her sleeve for her COVID-19 booster.
“I have been really pushing it back,” Farr said.
She’s worried about putting her newborn baby and elderly mom at risk.
“With holidays coming up and wanting to gather with family, I was like, we’re done procrastinating,” Farr said. “It is time to do it. It’s a relief.”
Farr isn’t the only person who was putting off her booster.
Jim Burke, a resident of Joshua, showed up for his booster Friday. He’ll be around large crowds with the upcoming holidays and while working at the Stockyard Show in Fort Worth.
“It was time,” Burke said.
On Thursday, the White House announced 2.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered nationwide Thursday along, the highest single day total in nearly seven months.
Brandon Bennett, the director of public health and code compliance in Fort Worth, said the city saw an increase in the number of vaccinations administered across the city over the last week.
He said several factors have led to the renewed urgency to get vaccinated.
“In the last week it went from things are looking better to: uh oh, we have this new variant, we’re doing travel restrictions, we’re starting to see an uptick in people going to the emergency room,” said Bennett.
Currently, Fort Worth’s COVID-19 positivity rate is 7%, slightly higher than in previous weeks, when it lingered around 5%, according to Bennett.
Bennett said some clinics in Fort Worth have administered triple the amount of vaccinations from previous weeks.
“I just worry about this is a bad virus,” said Burke.
COVID-19 led to a tough year of loss for Burke.
“I lost seven close friends this year,” Burke said. “All seven were non-vaccinated.”